Fifteen-year-old Brandon longs for a pair of the freshest sneakers that money can buy, assuming that merely having them on his feet will help him escape the reality of being poor, neglected by the opposite sex and picked on by everyone - even his best friends. Working hard to get them, he soon finds that the titular shoes have instead made him a target after they are promptly snatched by Flaco, a local hood. Brandon goes on a mission to retrieve his stolen sneakers.

'LICKS' follows the story of a young man, D, as he returns to his Oakland neighborhood after two years served in prison for a botched robbery. In the days after his release, we are taken into D's world and follow him as he decides what direction he wants to take his life after being locked up.